


Board Confessions

by MoonStarDutchess



Series: Love and Loyalty: A Royai Romance Collection [7]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Complete, F/M, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 14:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13237314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonStarDutchess/pseuds/MoonStarDutchess
Summary: Riza Hawkeye is bored at the office and decides to sketch on her clipboard.  Unfortunately, a curious colonel gets involved.Story 7 of my Royai Romance Collection





	Board Confessions

Riza Hawkeye had to hold back a sigh since it wouldn’t be smart to let Roy know that she was bored. Of all the days to forget her book at home, it had to be today. The day had gone by so slowly that she’d tried to make her paperwork last. Too bad that hadn’t worked, and not only that, but she still managed to finish her work before the colonel.

She glanced over at her superior. He was working furiously but hadn’t made a sizeable dent in his stack. She was bored enough that if she could’ve done the paperwork for him, she would’ve. It was already dark and all the offices in the building were empty except theirs.

She looked at Roy again. She could talk to him, but she didn’t feel like giving him an excuse to avoid doing his work. She leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling.

“Is something wrong?” he asked her.

“No, sir, don’t worry about me. You need to worry about your paperwork instead.”

He shrugged. “If you insist…” He went back to work.

 She picked up her clipboard and a pencil and looked around the room for some inspiration. Her hazel eyes came to rest on the colonel.

She studied him as if she’d never seen him before, and then went over what she did know and what other people thought they knew.

People saw him in different ways. Some saw him as the famous Flame Alchemist, the hero of the Ishbal rebellion. The people close to him know he thinks that’s bullshit.

Women flock to him for his looks and accomplishments but look no deeper into who he truly is. The higher ups find him to be a cocky upstart that takes on more than he can handle just so he can get promoted.

She saw him as an imperfect man. A man who tries his best to protect his friends even if it means putting himself in danger. He is a man who wears a mask to hide the pain he feels at what he’s done in the past. He may be a cocky upstart, but his intentions and goals are honorable. She looked down at the blank piece of paper on her clipboard.

_I see a man that I’m in love with._

She smiled and began to sketch. She periodically glanced up at him to make sure she was capturing his features correctly, all the while hoping that he didn’t notice.

 

**-/-/-**

 

Roy raised an eyebrow at Riza as she glanced at him for the fourth time. Though she was being covert about it, he could tell when she was looking at him.

_Hmmm, what is she working on?_

Normally, she would be reading a book after doing her paperwork _._

 He decided to ignore it for now since she seemed to be enjoying whatever it was she was doing. He rarely saw her like that, so he didn’t want to ruin it. Besides, he still had a lot of work to do, and if either of them were going to get home before midnight, he had better keep working.

After a few more glances from her, his curiosity got the better of him. “Lieutenant, what have you been working on over there?”

She shrugged. “Just a sketch. I forgot my book at home and I decided to draw something.”

“I see. What are you sketching?”

She looked up. “Are you finished with your paperwork sir?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

He ignored her question, his curiosity outweighing the need to do his work. Besides, he knew she was hiding something. “May I see what you’re sketching?” he asked, gazing at her intently.

She flushed slightly and he smirked.

“Why do you want to look at it?” she asked, her expression once again hidden behind her usual mask.

“Why do you think I want to look?” he countered. She hated it when people answered a question with a question.

With that said, a fierce staring contest began. Several minutes ticked by until Riza let out a frustrated sigh. She ripped off the piece of paper from her clipboard, crumpled it up, and threw it into the garbage bin next to her desk.

“It doesn’t matter, it wasn’t very good anyways.” She glared at her superior. “Now, please hurry up and finish your paperwork. I would like to get home soon.”

Roy pouted, but he did as she asked. If she thought that would be the end of it, she was wrong. If anything, what she’d done had doubled his desire to see her sketch. He knew from the way she stared that it was of him, but it would’ve been satisfying to get her to admit it.

He didn’t understand why a simple sketch of him was such a big deal to her, but he’d find out why after she left, and the only way she would leave was when he finished his work. So he dove into work with a new zeal.

About fifteen minutes later, he finished. He stood up and handed her his pile of paperwork. “There, all done. You’re free to go home, lieutenant.”

She stood up and gave him a quick salute. “Thank you, sir.”

They set about gathering their things, but Roy made sure to take more time doing it.

Once she was ready to leave, she smiled at him, reached down into the bin, grabbed the piece of paper, and shoved it in her pocket. His face faltered.

“You didn’t really think I’d fall for that did you?” She made her way to the door and stopped with her hand on the knob. “Good night, sir.”

She disappeared through the doorway and let the door shut with a soft click.

“Well fuck,” he said aloud to the empty office.

He put on his coat and grabbed his briefcase. When he went past her desk, he glared at the bin, but froze when he saw a piece of wadded up paper in there. He dropped his briefcase. The trash had been emptied earlier that night and he’d only seen Riza toss that one piece. If there was another then there was a fifty-fifty chance that she’d taken the wrong one

He darted over to the trashcan and grabbed the piece of paper. He straightened it out and laid it flat on his desk.

_Well, let’s see what Riza was trying so hard to hide._

He looked at the drawing, and his eyes went wide. His shocked look was replaced with a soft smile. It was amazingly accurate despite the fact that it was a quick sketch. He had no idea that Riza could draw so well. He had some memory of Riza drawing when they were younger, but she’d given it up.

Something written in the corner of the paper in Riza’s flowing script caught his attention. It was so small it was barely readable.

_They see a perfect man. I see an imperfect man that I love._

Roy’s smile widened. He dashed out of the room with the paper clenched tightly in his hand.

 

**-/-/-**

Riza walked down the sidewalk in silence. She had no idea what had possessed her to draw Roy, let along write those words in the corner of the paper. It was the truth and it was an actual relief that she’d admitted it on there.

She reached into her pocket and squeezed the paper.

He would never see it and she would not be drawing any sketches like that in the office anymore.

She vaguely contemplated how he’d react to the confession. She couldn’t help but have a small bit of romantic in her that he’d return the feelings. But it was unrealistic. Roy could have any girl he wanted, and in the dating pool, she was one of the plainer fish.

She smiled and removed the sketch from her pocket. A panic shot through her when she unfolded it and saw it was a piece of outdated paperwork she’d thrown in the trash when cleaning out her desk.

_Shit! Shit! Shit!_

She jerked around and rushed back toward headquarters. Just as she turned the corner, she hit into someone. “I’m sorry,” she said without looking at them. “I’m in a—”

“Now why would you be running towards work when you just got off from it?” her head darted up and saw Roy was the one she’d bumped into.

He hadn’t seen it. Thank goodness.

She straightened but he didn’t let go of her upper arms.

“Sir, shouldn’t you be on your way home? It’s not this way.”

“I had pressing matters to attend to,” he said and smirked.

Mischievousness usually came when that smirk appeared. And she knew exactly why he was smirking at her.

“What would those matters be?” she said, trying to play dumb. Maybe by some small chance he hadn’t seen. . .

“Catching you.” He held up a piece of paper. “You see, I saw this interesting drawing and just had to find the artist to tell her that I love her too.”

“Okay, sir, let me e…What?”

He lowered the paper, reached forward, and touched her cheek, his expression suddenly serious. “I love you too,” he whispered. “You did mean what you said on this paper, right?”

He…he loved her. By some miracle, Roy Mustang loved her! She nodded. “I meant every word.”

Roy beamed. “Good, that means I can do this.” He closed the distance between them. When he pulled away from the kiss, he grinned. “I like it when you’re bored.”

 


End file.
